Patrick Dominic Quinn (February 12, 1950 – September 24, 2006) was an American actor. From 2000 until his death in 2006, he was the president of

Actors' Equity Association The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly called Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American trade union, labor union representing those who work in Theatre, live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions w ...

Early life

Quinn was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, the son of a mortician. He had three brothers and one sister. Quinn studied theater at the

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

and took his first role in a touring company of ''

Man of La Mancha ''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay '' I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervan ...

''. He helped start the Charade Dinner Theater, the first Equity dinner theater in metropolitan Philadelphia.

Career

His first Broadway role was in the 1976 revival of ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 19 ...

''. He also appeared in the productions of '' Lend Me a Tenor'', ''

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

'', ''

A Class Act ''A Class Act'' is a quasi-autobiographical musical loosely based on the life of composer-lyricist Edward Kleban, who died at the age of 48 in 1987. Featuring a book by Linda Kline and Lonny Price along with music and lyrics by Kleban himself ...

'' and the 1998 revival of ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...

''. Quinn's television credits included roles on the shows ''

Bosom Buddies ''Bosom Buddies'' is an American television sitcom starring Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari created by Robert L. Boyett, Thomas L. Miller and Chris Thompson. It aired on Thursday nights for two seasons on ABC from November 27, 1980, to March 2 ...

'', ''

Edens Lost ''Edens Lost'' is a 1989 Australian mini-series based on the novel of the same title by Sumner Locke Elliott, produced by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Central Independent Television. Gillian Armstrong and Margaret Fink had pla ...

'' and ''

Remember WENN ''Remember WENN'' is a comedy-drama television series that aired from 1996 to 1998 on the cable channel American Movie Classics, as the network's first scripted original series. Created and written by Rupert Holmes (with music also by Holmes) ...

'', as well as all three current versions of the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

crime drama ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...

''. Quinn's voice was also featured as the main character in a ''

Schoolhouse Rock! ''Schoolhouse Rock!'' is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films (and later, music videos) which aired during the Saturday morning children's programming block on the U.S. television network AB ...

'' song, "Tax Man Max". Quinn, who had been a member of Equity since 1970, was elected to the council in 1977. He was elected president in 2000. In 1987, he helped organize the non-profit organization Equity Fights AIDS, which later merged with Broadway Cares. At the time of his death, he was scheduled to succeed Alan Eisenberg as executive director of the association.Andrew Salomon, "Patrick Quinn Is Equity's New Exec. Director", ''Backstage.com'', August 22, 2006

Death

Quinn died of a heart attack at his country home in Bushkill,

, aged 56. He was survived by his partner of twelve years, Martin Casella.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, Patrick 1950 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people American gay actors American male stage actors American male television actors Male actors from Philadelphia Presidents of the Actors' Equity Association Temple University alumni